


How Bad Could It Have Been? (Worse Than You Thought)

by angstfortheangstgod



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, No Beta, Pandora's Vault Prison, Protective Sam | Awesamdude, Spoilers for February 21st Stream, Tommy is trapped in prison with Dream for a week and this is the aftermath, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), abuse mentions but nothing graphic, references to the exile arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29622843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstfortheangstgod/pseuds/angstfortheangstgod
Summary: After a week of being stuck in Pandora's Vault with Dream, Tommy is finally able to leave. He isn't expecting to be met with some of the other SMP members, both friends and enemies, the minute he leaves the prison. Almost everybody is confused to see how emotionally torn up Tommy is over the week he spent in the cell with the server's admin, but the truth about his exile comes out and minds are changed.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 571
Collections: Cheshire's MCYT recs!, Completed stories I've read





	How Bad Could It Have Been? (Worse Than You Thought)

Tommy didn’t know what to expect when he stumbled out of Pandora’s Vault after a week of being stuck in a tiny cell with Dream. Throughout the past seven days, he’d been so focused on staying calm and getting out that he’d never stopped to consider what would happen once he finally left. In his defense, he’d been too preoccupied to even comprehend the fact that other people on the server besides Sam and Dream knew about how he had been trapped within the obsidian walls. The past week had been hell on earth for Tommy, as all of his triggers wrapped together into one hellish cell that would haunt his nightmares for weeks to come.

When he stared into the lava surrounding the cell, he felt its bubbling surface taunting him, a reminder of all the times he had come so close,  _ too close,  _ to jumping into its inviting heat. The small room of obsidian taunted him as his claustrophobia set in, the walls seeming to shrink in on him with every moment that passed. The sounds of explosions from outside, which dwindled the more days passed, only served to remind him of three times his home country had been blown up, and all the times Dream had made him dig a hole and throw his things in. If he focused, it was almost like he could still smell the ash and feel the heat of the TNT only feet away from his fragile body.

All the while, he had his abuser tormenting him. Dream never seemed to give Tommy a moment of peace, constantly spewing the same lies he had made the teen believe during his time in Logstedshire. The sickly sweet promises of friendship and care wrapped around Tommy’s heart and he was just barely strong enough to fight them off, though he resolved to fight it off internally, as he had quickly learned during his stay in the cell that Dream did  _ not  _ like it when he fought back.

The bruises were still fresh, a painful reminder of why he couldn’t challenge Dream aloud.

After seven days, which felt like seven years, of torment, Tommy was finally free, finally released from the hellish cell that had kept him captive with the man he swore he would never speak to again. As he stumbled out the intimidating doors of Pandora’s Vault and back into the regular world, he could only sob in relief. He took in gasping breaths of fresh air as he squinted against the blinding sun, finding himself unable to do anything except cry and relish the feeling of being in open air. Abandoning his reputation as a so-called “big man,” Tommy allowed the tears to fall, rolling down his cheeks and dripping off of his chin.

The first person Tommy noticed,  _ the first person he’d seen in the past week besides Dream,  _ was Sam, who was standing about a few feet away and staring at the boy with a mix of concern and guilt, the emotions showing despite the gas mask securely on his face. If Tommy were in a better state of mind, perhaps he’d ask what the security breach was, or curse the man out for leaving him with Dream for a week (even if it wasn’t the warden’s fault). But Tommy was fragile and his mind was only yelling that the creeper hybrid was safe, safe,  _ safe. _

“Sam!” Tommy cried out, stumbling across the distance between them and collapsing against the man.

“Tommy . . .” Sam whispered, wrapping his arms around the shorter male and holding him close to his chest.

“Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam . . .” Tommy repeated over and over again, as if it were a mantra or a prayer. “Sam, please . . .”

The creeper hybrid only held the teen tighter, allowing the teen to cry into his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He ran a gentle hand through Tommy’s matted hair, brushing through the tangles and giving the boy the comfort and security he so desperately needed in that moment.

“I thought I would be strong enough. I thought I was over it, but he got to me,” Tommy whimpered, voice muffled as he spoke against Sam’s clothes. “The room was so small and the lava was so warm and he was there,  _ he was always there.  _ It was like my exile all over again.”

“That’s why you're crying?” a voice piped up. “Because it was like your glorified little vacation to escape your consequences? Well, it sounds like you had a pleasant time in the prison then!”

Tommy looked up, pulling away from Sam’s chest to meet the eyes of Jack Manifold, who was staring at the boy with poorly concealed rage.

“You know nothing of my exile,” Tommy whispered, voice raspy. “Never speak to me of it.”

Someone scoffed and Tommy turned around, only to find himself looking right at Technoblade, who seemed wholly disinterested with the whole ordeal.

“I’m  _ so sorry  _ you were all alone at Logstedshire, Tommy,” Technoblade told him with the monotone edge he always had, “but it’s not exactly enough to warrant some type of extreme breakdown over being stuck with the admin for a week, even if it was in a prison cell.”

“You’re a shit brother,” Tommy muttered before burying his head in Sam’s chest once more. “I hope you know that, Tech.”

“That was uncalled for, Tommy” Philza spoke up, gazing down at the boy from where he stood next to Techno.

The piglin hybrid went to speak again, but Tubbo piped up before he could, the teen having come up to stand a few feet behind Tommy.

“I know exile was bad, Toms,” the brunet teen said in that voice where he was obviously trying to mediate. The sound of his friend’s voice pulled Tommy away from the warden’s chest, though Sam held onto the boy’s hand as a grounding force. “But I feel like you’re being a bit overdr-”

“Did he do it again?” Sam asked, interrupting the former president’s mediocre attempt at peaceful conversation. Tommy followed the creeper hybrid’s gaze and found that he was looking at his bruised wrist, stained purple with the remnants of Dream’s painful grasp.

“I talked back at him,” Tommy explained, shying away from Sam’s gaze. “He didn’t like that I was yelling and, well . . . you know he got during exile.”

Sam held the boy’s wrist up to examine the bruise further, which only served to reveal it to the people standing around them. His face was pinched and his anger remained obvious as he gazed upon the purple skin. He prodded a gentle finger against it and Tommy winced, prompting the man to give a quiet apology.

“Tommy . . .” Tubbo whispered, voice full of hurt and fear. “Please don’t tell me that bruise is from where I think it’s from.”

“It’s not so bad!” Tommy attempted to reassure, pulling away from Sam and putting his hands up as if it would prove something. All it did, however, was show off more of the bruises on his arms. “I mean, I survived exile, so it wasn’t like it was impossible for me to survive this!”

“That implies that something worse happened during exile!” Tubbo nearly wailed, tears coming to his eyes. Tommy panicked as he realized just how upset his friend looked.

“I know I didn’t tell you a lot about exile, but it’s not as horrible as whatever you’re imagining!” Tommy attempted to placate the other teen. “I had Dream with me a lot and he was my friend, sorta, even though he . . . he . . .”

Tommy took a deep breath, trying to shove away the memories of his time in Logstedshire. Each was tinged with the scent of gunpowder and Dream’s saccharine sweet voice insisting that he cared about the teen, that he was the boy’s only friend. As the thoughts of his things being blown up in a hole came to mind, Tommy nearly winced, but forced himself to remain still.

“What did he  _ do, _ Tommy?!” Tubbo shouted, unable to bear the vagueness.

Tommy paused before he spoke, but found that the words wouldn’t stop coming out once they began to spill from his mouth. “It hurt . . . it hurt a lot of the time. I was always just a little bit too close to the TNT, but it was so hard to watch everything I worked hard for disappear each day. And it was so, so lonely every day, and he was the only one there. I should’ve seen through his lies, should’ve known that we weren’t friends,  _ we had never been friends,  _ but it felt so nice to think I was cared for. When he left, it was so much more lonely.

“I know he wanted me to think we were friends, so I would let him do anything he wanted without fighting back, and I did. I let him hurt me because he was my friend, and I thought all the bruises and blood were to teach me a lesson, a lesson I deserved to be taught. I thought he was right, that I was a sinner and he was the saint meant to show me how to be good, how to deserve love. There were so many times over my months in Logstedshire where I was so ready to finally end it all, to jump into the lava and let go for the last time.”

Tears began to fall from his eyes again and he felt Sam put a hand on his shoulder to ground him. He couldn’t help but appreciate the silent support.

“That stupid fucking cell was every single one of my worst fears put together into my own personal hell. Lava, explosions, small spaces, and  _ Dream,  _ always right behind me, always taunting me.”

Tommy glared up at Pandora’s Vault as if the building had personally offended him, which it had, in some sense. He felt nothing but resentment as he stared at the intricately built jail, the blackstone taunting him as he was reminded of what had occurred within its walls, of who was still behind all of its protection measures and redstone machinery.

“Tommy,” Sam spoke up, catching the boy’s attention. “Let’s go home. We’ll patch you up and get you some good food, okay?”

Tommy only found it within himself to nod tiredly, allowing the man to wrap and arm around his shoulders and begin to lead him back towards his base, where the teen had been staying ever since Sam had discovered he lived in a dirt shack. Tubbo watched them leave, stuck in place with shock as he tried to process everything Tommy had told him about his exile.

“Tubbo?” Jack questioned, breaking the teen out of his trance. Tubbo only shook his head and left back towards Snowchester, refusing to speak a word. Jack looked over to where the two Antarctic Anarchists were, but they paid no attention to him.

“Techno-” Phil started.

“Let’s go home,” Techno told him decidedly, turning around and heading back towards where Jack assumed their home was.

“Techno, we can’t just leave after that!” Phil insisted, though he ran to catch up with the hybrid and matched his walking pace.

“We’ll discuss everything at home. For now, I think it’s time we leave.”

Phil only sighed at Techno’s words and followed him away from Pandora’s Vault, leaving Jack alone in the silence of the late afternoon.

Jack could only slowly lower himself to the ground, sitting on the grass and staring up at the prison that housed one of the two people he had declared his enemy. His other enemy, however, was a kid who never deserved to be labeled as some villain that held no empathy for other people. Tommy didn’t have a victim complex, as Jack used to think he did.

_ Tommy was a victim. _

Jack watched the sun lower towards the horizon behind the blackstone exterior as he thought about the kid he’d declared his nemesis. A kid who was a war veteran. A kid who was exiled. A kid who was abused and made to think nobody cared about him, not that people in the server had fought against the perception that they felt no empathy for Tommy.

“I’m a bad person, aren’t I?” Jack asked into the air. “I was always a villain, huh?”

Nobody answered his question.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope u enjoy this and it wasn't too shit, seeing as I sped ran this fic the moment I got the chance to

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Pandora's Trap](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29646765) by [silenceonkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silenceonkey/pseuds/silenceonkey)




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